Damascus in need of friends

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The Assad regime’s campaign to suppress the uprising in Syria by force was
dealt a double blow at the weekend. The split in Tehran over the cost and
wisdom of supplying Damascus with weapons and money threatens to cut off the
arms now being rapidly exhausted in the all-out assault on rebel positions.

At the same time, Iraq said yesterday that it had assured Washington that no
more Iranian planes carrying weapons for Syria would be allowed to fly over
Iraqi territory.

Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, told the Arabic daily al-Hayat
that he had assured US officials Iraq